How are 2020 winners Biller Genie and Sustalytics faring amid the pandemic?
The Miami Herald is now accepting entries for its annual Startup Pitch Competition, which continues to feature a stellar team of judges. Find out about the judges and how to enter at miamiherald.com/news/ business/business-planchallenge.
Meanwhile, we’re checking in with last year’s winners.
BILLER GENIE
In 2020, Biller Genie, an invoicing software platform, won on the financial technology track. We spoke with Biller Genie’s vice president of marketing, Scott Burgess, about how the company has fared.
MIAMI HERALD: How did your business change over the past year?
BILLER GENIE: We completely pivoted our business, from payments processing to software-as-a-service. We now provide an accounts receivable platform to businesses. So we’re a good fit for anybody who is sending an invoice after they’ve sold something or completed a service, whether it’s a marketing company, a law firm or health care. We’ve been able to add 15 employees, including one in St. Louis who was simply just the right fit.
MH: How did COVID impact the business?
COVID accelerated the adoption of contactless payments. We were at the forefront of this trend prior to the pandemic, adding Apple Pay in February 2020 to our lineup. Apple Pay is an excellent addition to the other contactless payment options we offer our customers, including online credit, debit and ACH payments.
MH: How did winning the competition help your business?
BG:
It helped substantially. It gives us local notoriety and helps us solidify our brand, as if to say, Hey South Florida, we’re here, watch out. And when we’re looking for investments or partnerships, or trying to find new employees, one of the top things they mention is seeing us in the Miami Herald. It also helps that it was not only a feature, but that we can tell people we actually won something.
SUSTALYTICS
Julie Evans, founder of Sustalytics, can describe her company in five words: we predict what will sell. But the longer version is that the company empowers brands to maximize profits while reducing waste through forecasts of what consumers want. Evans’ pitch won the Wildcard category of the 2020 Miami Herald Pitch Competition.
MH: How did your business change over the past year?
JE: On the tech side, we launched our user interface in September, which opened the door to scaling. We started building a brand image, including a new website, brand book and social media channels. We were joined by new hires and interns and made connections to new brands large and small.
MH: How did COVID-19 impact your business?
JE: The direct impact for us was cash flow; the fashion industry was paralyzed and budgets were seriously tightened.
The sales cycle is longer now. But the pandemic was a lesson. We had smaller brands that approached us to use the platform. That’s when we decided to pivot and incorporate small and medium businesses, especially ecommerce, to be able to offer our services to smaller players.
MH: How did winning the Miami Herald competition help your business?
JE: It definitely increased awareness, but more importantly it brought us further credibility. The Miami Herald was a bit like the starting point for us to start building a presence and a brand image. We didn’t have an image before and this was the impulse to start one. So many brands and interns contacted us after that. We were contacted by Miami Angels from the article and while we were not ready to raise funds at the time, we maintained contact.